Disclaimer:Taz and Up do not belong to me. Neither do any of the other characters in this chapter actually…Actually! I don't even own this part of the story! It allbelong to Starkid.
A/N:Song of the chapter: Wonderwall, Oasis
"Back beat, the word was on the street, That the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before, But you never really had a doubt
I don't believe that anybody, Feels the way I do about you now."
Taz stalked down the corridor, her zapper held in one hand and her boots stomping on the metal floor. The sound of the system's voice blared out from the speakers that were positioned every five metres along the walls of the corridor. Why these new systems had to be so loud she didn't know. Were theytrying to cause premature deafness?
As soon as Taz had got the radio call that she had to go to the Starship Pod she knew what had happened. February. Why they sent an idiot like her down to the planet first she had no idea. Taz had only known the girl for a matter of days but even she knew that it was not a good idea to send her down to an uncharted alien planet alone. The girl was a tonto! She couldn't even pronounce scientific words right, never mind know what half of them meant.
Taz reached the door that led into the main corridor. She shoved the button beside the door and stalked through, swinging her zapper round her body and into her hands. She saw that Krayonder was just coming down the corridor towards her from one side, and Specs from the other.
"Alright people!" she announced to them. "Jou heard it! This is a rescue mission. Get jour zappers, and set them to pew." She spun her zapper in her hands, changing the settings before checking she'd set it right. The reassuring 'pew' sound told her she had.
"Whoa Taz, jou're pretty tough for a chick." Taz looked at him; he was wobbling round like he often did when he was nervous. She raised an eyebrow.
"I was just about to say the same thing about jou," she muttered sarcastically.
Krayonder stopped dead and stared at her. "Whoa!" he cried, skipping back off to get his zapper. Taz shook her head slightly and began pulling her gloves on.
"Specs!" she called as the engineer appeared behind her.
"Yes, Lieutenant?"
"Scan the surface of the planet; I want to see what's going on down there."
The engineer came to stand beside her. "I'll try, Lieutenant, but gamma storms are interfering with my equipment," she explained. "My spectrometer readings are off the wazzoo!" Taz didn't even bother responding, she was only going to get an equally complicated and confusing response. Specs ran off, presumably to the engine room, dragging Krayonder with her to help. Steps came from somewhere behind her, and a loud noise that Taz could only describe as 'wooing.'
"Excuse me, little girl!" Taz didn't turn around. Littlegirl! Was this guy estupido! "I'm new and I was just wondering, what's this?" She turned slightly; the guy was holding his zapper, looking highly confused.
Taz pulled a disbelieving face. "Ugh, dat's jour zapper!"
"What's that?" Taz kind of zoned out of the conversation, only half listening to the stupid, dim-witted questions that the idiot asked her and not even bothering listening at all when he started going on about farm planet. She continued to get ready, readjusting her zapper, checking her knife, sorting her gloves. She tried not to be too irritated by the guy's highly irritating voice.
"…when he died, he went to heaven." What on dead-gods name was he going on about?
"Hey!" Taz turned the corner towards the landing pod. She'd had enough of this guy already, and she'd only known him for a matter of minutes. "Jou better get out of my face, ese. I'm prepping for a rescue mission."
"I know, I know." The guy grabbed her arm and spun her to face him. "I'm assigned to the rescue mission too!" Taz looked him up and down slightly. He was fairly tall, bulky, and obviously strong. He had pale blue eyes and brown/blonde hair that was cropped short close to his head. "Hey, my name is Tootsie Noodles." Taz glanced from his face, to the hand he'd held out for her, to his face again.
"What the hell kind of name is dat?" she questioned, a disbelieving look on her face.
"Well you see where I come from, farm planet…" Taz zoned out again. She really didnot want to know about farm planet. "…Where I come from, farm planet." Did that guy ever shut up?
"Cállate! What am I supposed to do with jou!" Taz cried, throwing her hands up. "Jou know nothing!" She stormed off, ignoring his protests that he could learn, and also ignoring the fact he asked Krayonder the same question he'd asked her two minutes ago. "So this is the rescue squad?" she asked as she turned around to face the three ensigns. "Eh, look at jou. None of jou have what it takes to serve under Commander Up!" She couldn't help it, it slipped out. What they had been thinking, putting a bunch of idiots like these under her and Up's command, they must have been high. Was this all they deserved now? Taz swallowed her annoyance and stepped over to the radio unit by the wall to send a message into Space-Claw. She was glad to hear that Specs and Tootsie had quickly engaged into a full-length conversation about the greatness of the Commander Up. She was glad to know that all she had done to him and his two years at the rehabilitation centre hadn't affected his reputation.
"Yeah, well I heard he went soft." Taz froze. Her head turned slightly towards the voice. It sounded like Krayonder. That little rat. "He used to be all that and a bag of flavofives, but now he's like a total wimp. Like the other day, he was in the cafeteria just crying in front of everybody!"
"Hey! Jou got something to say, about de Commander?" Taz demanded, unable to stop the anger from showing in her voice. She felt like a hypocrite, defending Up after all she'd done to hurt him. She just couldn't stop herself. Up was everything she'd ever wanted to be, if he was nothing to anybody, what did that make her? Krayonder looked immediately nervous, his eyes widening as he realised he'd said that while Taz was still in earshot.
"Uh...no, oh! I forgot! You guys fought in the robot wars together!" Taz's face heated slightly, her eyes narrowing. Did this idiot really think that was going to make everything better? He forgot? He'd been asking her questions about him for two years! And now, he just forgot.
"Yeah, Krayonder!" she spat his name out like an insult, knowing full well how much he prized his name and how amazingly badass it made him sound. Taz's blood was boiling just at the thought of his naive little beliefs. He knew nothing. "Where he saved my life a thousand times." He knew that. She knew he knew that.
"Yeah, he was like a super soldier," Krayonder agreed, wobbling nervously. Taz's eyes blazed. Was. Past tense. Every nerve in her body was burning with hatred. Up had given up everything for the Galactic League. He'd fought in those robot wars all the way through, saving more lives and killing more robots than any other soldier. And now all he got was a past tense? Taz's fist connected with her other hand slowly. She was vaguely aware that both Specs and Tootsie had backed off against the wall and that Krayonder was now stood alone.
"What do jou mean, was?"
"Nothing man," Krayonder said quickly. "I just heard about his injury..." Heard about his injury. Taz felt like screaming. She'd fucking told him about Up's injury. She took a sharp intake of breath and heard Tootsie and Specs gasp slightly. Krayonder gulped. "I mean, his famous injury. The one that everyone's heard about-" Taz's face was contorting with anger even more with every syllable that the little maggot sounded. Her heart felt like it was beating in her throat and she could feel herself turning bright red as the fury filled her top of bottom. She shook her head slightly, barely even able to hear what Krayonder was saying anymore. Too many things were running through her head. "-I like, heard this rumour going around, that he might have maybe gone a little bit...soft..." Krayonder trailed off, glancing at Taz and then seriously regretting having said anything at all. Taz could see it in his eyes. The fear that had settled there the moment he'd looked at her. She looked freaking furious.
"Put your hand on dat wall." She pointed. Krayonder stared at her. She sounded so calm, but she looked so dangerous.
"What? Why?" he asked, looking at the wall, and then back at her. Taz turned her head to him, her finger still pointing to the wall. Her eyes burned into his.
"Put, your hand, on, DAT WALL!" Krayonder put his hand on the wall. Taz pulled out her knife. She had no idea what she was doing anymore. Well, she did know what she was doing, but what she was doing didn't make any sense, and it certainly wasn't something she should be doing. She'd been threatened with this punishment before, by Cal. Then, she'd known Cal wouldn't ever throw a knife at her. Now, as she held a knife up to throw it at Krayonder's hand, she didn't have a clue whether she was actually going to do it or not. She took aim.
"No, please!" Krayonder cried. He didn't take his hand off the wall but continued to plead with her. "That's not funny!"
"Oh, oh. Don't throw a knife at jour hand?" Taz asked.
"No, don't!"
"Uhkay," she murmured, lowering her knife. Krayonder sighed with relief and grinned at her slightly, the expression on his face clearly thinking he'd gotten away with it.
Taz lost it.
"ARGH!" She'd stabbed him in the back. Right next to the spine in fact. Not a lethal stab, barely even hindering, but painful none the less.
"Now jou listen to me now jou little fart!" she screeched, pointing her finger at his face. Specs and Tootsie had their backs pressed against the wall, probably fearing they might be next.
"You stabbed me!" Krayonder cried, wincing with pain. Taz twisted the knife slightly and he shut up.
"Up is the toughest son of a bitch I ever met in my life!" Taz shouted. Anger was overwhelming every sense in her body. All she wanted to do was prove to Krayonder that Up was not a failure. That he was never going to be. It didn't matter that this was only one guy, or that he was a complete idiot. Proving it to one person meant that there was still a possibility it was true, that she hadn't been wrong, that he was better. Taz found herself listing off the things Rosi had said to her and Up back in the refugee tent. Sleeping on a bed of fire. Crying onions. All that shit. It was a desperate lie. To herself, she sounded desperate. It didn't matter.
"I'm dying." Taz ignored Krayonder.
"So jou better un-fudge jourself! Or Up will unscrew jour head, and drop de wishing pennies down jour throat-" What in dead-god's name was she going on about? She was going crazy with hatred. "Now take a walk off my knife."
Krayonder stepped forwards, yelling out and doubling over from the pain in his back.
"Oh, does dat hurt jou?" Taz taunted, anger still burning through her veins like wildfire. "Oh, WALK IT OFF!" She got her knife and stabbed herself seven times in the stomach. Sure it hurt, but in the state she was in Taz barely even registered the pain at all, she was too angry. She looked at Krayonder and the other two ensigns. They all looked at her, then glanced at each other, looks of both admiration and terror etched into their features. Taz turned away, walking towards the drop pod slightly and trying to calm herself down. She sorted out her uniform, cracked her neck, shuffled, anything to stop herself from either killing someone or bursting into tears with all the cooped up emotion inside her.
"Commander on deck." Every head shot to the speaker. "Drop down in two minutes." Taz stared at the speaker for a second, unable to comprehend what it had just said. Up was on deck. Up was coming. She was going to see Up. She nearly puked.
"Yeah, fall in!" Taz yelled, yet again messing with her gloves in a desperate attempt to act natural, which most definitely didn't feel. The three ensigns fell into line. Taz gulped slightly. "And jou better hope dat Up likes jour stupid faces, or he might just rip them off." It was a weak insult. Taz hoped none of Ensigns realised it was more for her benefit than it was theirs. Taz looked forwards as the door opened. None of the four rangers looked back to where their Commander was walking in. None of them dared. Krayonder, Specs and Tootsie were stood as still as statues, Taz was swaying from side to side for fear that if she didn't move she might run away. The ensigns were just generally afraid of their Commander, Taz was just afraid of what seeing his face again, full on, would do to her.
He wasn't better. Taz had known it from the moment their eyes had met for that half a second as she tried to look at him and he turned away. He wasn't better at all. She'd tried to stay calm, tried not to do anything stupid. But she couldn't help it. It was either get really angry, or get really upset. As she always did, Taz chose angry. She'd yelled at him, she'd slapped him in the face.
Okay, so a little bit of fear was acceptable when your ship's Ambassador- that Space-Claw came up with the stupidest ideas sometimes- decides to bring a robot to help you- there we go again- but hiding behind her and kissing her back? That was not the Up that she'd once known. Taz knew that getting angry at Up hadn't helped things, but she hadn't been able to stop herself. She was so angry, so upset. She'd thought- for once- that she'd done something right, that maybe she'd saved him by leaving him.
People had kept telling her she hadn't, that she was wrong, but she'd still clung onto that little hope. Praying that maybe, just maybe, when she came back she'd have the old Up again. The thought that she was wrong was too much for her.
They were down on the planet now, having just stepped off the ship. Up was walking behind her, getting as far away from the metal bitch as he possibly could. Taz took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. At least she'd got him to come down at all, maybe there was still hope. There, she was doing it again. Clinging to almost impossible hopes. No matter how much she tried, Taz still couldn't accept that Up was gone. He had to be in there, somewhere. He had to be.
"Rats," Up mumbled. "What the heck is this place?" Taz awoke from her thoughts and looked around. They were in a sort of...cave. Everything seemed to be covered in slime and the whole place was a. Dark and b. Disgusting. It was downright creepy. There were shapes that Taz could make out in the darkness. She wasn't saw what they were, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. Specs said something about her spectrometer but Taz didn't listen. She was too busy looking around for any sign of life. She didn't like this place, at all, and she doubted that anything living here would be nice.
Krayonder nearly died at the words 'secreted resin.' "Secreted!" he cried. "Secreted from what, man? We shouldn't have come in here!" His cry was far louder than it should have been and every person turned and shushed him.
"Krayonder!" Up scolded. He sounded like he was Krayonder's mother, he knew. He was trying to act like the Commander he used to be, but he didn't really think it was working. "I know we're all very terrified right now-" Taz looked at him, shaking her head and throwing her hands up irritably. Up's heart clenched slightly. Couldn't she see that he was only here because of her? He was doing this for her. Trying to make himself what he used to be for her. He needed her. "But we need to be big boys, because this is where February's call signal's coming from. So this is where we got to look." Up swallowed his fear, or at least tried to. His voice had wobbled on the last few words and Taz had given him another look. He took a deep breath.
"Why have we stopped?" Everyone looked at the robot. The Mega-girl unit. It was tall, shiny, metallic, creepy. Not one of them liked it. Least of all Taz. She didn't understand Space-Claw's means for putting it on this mission. Was he purposefully trying to weaken Up? "Do you humans need to rest for eight vulnerable hours?"
Taz fumed. "The only thing that needs to rest are jour jokes," she spat. "Because they are so tired."
"WHOOOOOOOOA!" Idiot Krayonder. Everyone bar the robot shushed him again.
"For maximum efficiency just use your thermal vision to scan for signs of life," the robot said. "Oh wait. I have mistaken your futility for my utility."
Taz lost it.
"ONE MORE COMMENT LIKE DAT, AND I WILL WRAP JOU UP IN A TORTILLA AND EAT JOU AS A SNACK!" she screamed before storming back over to Up. The group made it forwards one step before the robot made yet another comment on how weak humans were. Or at least, that's what it sounding like anyway. Taz didn't really know what exactly it had said, it made no sense what so ever. Not that it mattered. It was definitely an insult.
"I'M GOING TO SHOOT THIS METAL BITCH!"
Up had to step in. He always stepped in. This was the time he always stepped in. Up stepped in. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down Taz! She's just telling jokes." The pair made vicious gestures to each other. "Let's split up, everyone look for February on their own. Come on Taz."
Taz looked at her hand, slightly horrified. Up had taken it into his own. In her shock she shook his hand off, not really knowing what else to do. Could they still do that? They'd always done that, but...
Up looked at her, hurt evident in his eyes. She considered taking his hand again, but her hand wouldn't obey her brain. Up made a slight protest but then nodded, heading off in the opposite direction and refusing to look at her again.
Taz turned away, looking half-heartedly around for February. All the while her mind was still on Up.
A/N:Okay, so yeah, this is only part of Starship…I'm going to speed this part up…I just wanted to focus on the meeting between Taz and Up again… okay…
Oh, and btw. I want to do a Christmas Story thing. I'm going to see how many Christmas related one shots I can do, so if anyone would like to pm me with names of characters you want me to write one about (it does not have to be romantic and it can be from any book, film or other. Ask anything, honest, I'll probably know it) or if you review you could just pop it on the end. Thanks.
